Days of Our Lives Review Week of 3-14-22: The Most Mismatched Couple

Chloe is right: Craig doesn’t belong with Leo.

Everyone but him sees it. He’s too busy insisting Leo is a changed man even though he didn’t know him before.

On Days of Our Lives during the week of 3-14-22, Craig and Leo went on a date that raised Steve’s eyebrows and proved these two were not right for each other.

A good portion of Friday’s episode was dedicated to Leo and Craig’s date, and it was all ridiculous.

Leo seemed only to care about sex, prompting Craig to remark that he was no spring chicken anymore and needed a break. It was a miracle that Leo agreed to take a dinner break!

Their date consisted of Leo trying to ingratiate himself to an unreceptive Steve and Kayla, and when the men were alone, it wasn’t much better.

Leo: I know what you should order. Steak with double mashed potatoes.
Craig: If I ate that, I’d have to double up on my cholesterol meds.

Leo tried to tell Craig to order a cholesterol-heavy dinner that Craig wasn’t interested in, then made a suggestion when Craig was upset that Nancy had outed him to all his colleagues back in New York: stay in Salem and try to steal Kayla’s job from her.

How about no?

Craig working at the hospital in Salem is one thing; underhanded tricks to undermine the current Chief of Staff is another.

Granted, Kayla isn’t doing a great job, and her reluctance to fire Marlena for the mess the Devil made out of her patients’ lives is the least of her worries. A far bigger concern is her insistence on playing psychiatrist with Sarah instead of calling in someone who knows what she’s doing!

But Craig swooping in to take her job would likely come off as him being up to his old tricks, and he’d end up persona non grata in Salem. We don’t need that.

I’d rather Craig apply to work under Kayla. The hospital could use some more competent doctors, and he and Tripp might have some exciting interactions given what’s happened since the last time they met.

But we don’t need any repeats of the Craig vs. Mike debacle. And worse, it seems like Leo is calling all the shots.

Whether it’s big things like a job change or small ones like what to order for dinner, Leo tells Craig what to do. Craig is talking back, but how long will that last?

This seems like a set-up for an abusive relationship where Leo isolates Craig by destroying all of his personal and professional relationships.

That being said, Chloe and her friends need to back the hell off.

If Chloe can’t sleep because her father is with a man she doesn’t like, she’s too involved. 

She’s said what she had to say, and Craig’s reaction to her schemes has been to get furious and demand that she accept that he’s happy. It’s high time she listened.

Of course, she doesn’t know what Sonny and Will are up to, but they wouldn’t be up to anything if they weren’t determined to help her break up her father and his boyfriend.

Craig says he’s happy, so realistically, the only thing to do is keep an eye on things from a distance. If Leo seems to be spending all of Craig’s money or otherwise abusing him, Chloe should step in. Otherwise, she needs to butt out already.

Sonny and Will’s new plan is so stupid that there are no words for how ridiculous it is.

Chad: My favorite thing about Leo was how nothing stopped him. I told him I was straight, I was married, and I had two kids. It didn’t matter. He still wouldn’t take No for an answer. I have to wonder what caper he’s up to now. I mean, he’s always involved in something.
Will: He’s up to something, all right.
Chad: You’ve heard from the little troll?
Sonny: Worse. We’ve seen him.

Chad laughed about how Leo wouldn’t leave him alone even though he told him he was straight, but it’s not funny. It’s sexual harassment.

Nothing good can come from this. It’s just an invitation for Leo to annoy Chad some more if he even takes the bait.

There’s no guarantee he will, either. Sonny and Will said Leo was too smart to fall for it if they hired a prostitute to lure him away from Craig, so what makes them think he’d believe Chad was interested in him now? And even if he does fall for this, who says he won’t refuse to break his commitment to Craig?

This nonsensical plan sounds similar to when Eve hired a prostitute to tempt JJ away from Paige, and all she got for her money was a picture of the woman with an unconscious JJ after she drugged him.

It didn’t work then, and this won’t work now.

Plus, coming out late in life is a real-life issue that Days of Our Lives should take seriously. Like too many DAYS stories recently, it started out well and then quickly spiraled into silliness. Will and Sonny’s plan promises to be more of the same.

Across town, Will and Allie had a heart-to-heart about Allie’s sexuality that was long overdue and played to perfections.

I loved Will’s advice. He was right on the money with telling Allie that he couldn’t label her sexual orientation for her and that she had to be honest with herself about how she felt.

Allie was relieved to realize she didn’t have to decide whether she was attracted to men or women and that bisexuality was a legitimate orientation. These scenes were refreshingly realistic, and we need more of them.

Less pleasing, though: Allie’s decision to immediately jump into a relationship with Chanel.

I know this is foreign to most people in Salem, but you don’t have to rush into a relationship or jump into bed the second you feel like it.

Allie is still processing how she feels. She’s heartbroken that she destroyed her relationship with Tripp, and she feels guilty for hurting him. She’s sad that it’s over but is trying to accept it.

That’s not the time to start something new. At best, Chanel is a rebound relationship.

Allie hasn’t explored her feelings beyond realizing that she denied her attraction to Chanel for a long time. Until recently, she was sure she was in love with Tripp and devastated that he wouldn’t give her a second chance. Those feelings don’t just go away because she’s admitted she’s attracted to Chanel.

There’s also the issue of Johnny being possessed by the Devil. Sooner or later, this silly story is going to end, and when Johnny is back in his right mind, he’s going to want Chanel back.

That’ll cause a ton of drama between the twins, especially if Allie holds Johnny’s devilish antics against him even though he wasn’t in control of himself.

It’s not clear who’s endgame here, either. Will Chanel stay committed to Allie if a sane Johnny wants her back? Allie could end up left out in the cold altogether, as Tripp won’t want to be her consolation prize, and Chanel might dump her for her brother.

Speaking of the Johnny storyline, the Devil stuff got even more ridiculous.

Neer mind the stupidity of Susan concluding Belle was the Devil because she saw a 666 on her coat. That was the least of the nonsense that happened with this storyline.

At this point, a lot of what’s going on simply doesn’t make any sense.

Marlena yelled at Stefano’s portrait that she would defeat him again.

It’s nice that she finally acknowledged that Stefano brought the Devil to Salem the first time, not her depression over being the town pariah or whatever nonsense the writers had dreamed up when this started. But since Stefano is not the Devil, yelling at him makes little sense.

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Meanwhile, the Devil, who waited around 25 years to repossess Marlena and seemed obsessed with her, nearly strangled her to death twice and now considers her its mortal enemy. What?

Plus, we’ve got the wrong person tied to the bed and the Devil trying desperately to get into that room so that John doesn’t find out that his precious Belle isn’t the one who is possessed.

This story is so goofy that I can’t believe what I’m writing whenever I discuss it.

Let’s hope John accidentally exorcises the Devil from Johnny while trying to help Belle and gets it out of Salem for once and for all!

The biggest story outside of the Devil was TR’s shooting of Eli.

TR isn’t literally the Devil, but he’s a much more realistic evil spirit than the one we have. He knows how to turn on the charm when he needs to, and he can intimidate and manipulate people into doing his bidding.

TR: Paulina. I just heard about Lani’s husband.
Paulina: He’s in recovery.
TR: Is he awake?
Julie: Not as far as we know.
Abe: You must be…
TR: TR Coates. Lani’s father.
Julie: I didn’t know you were in the picture.
TR: It’s a recent development. And you are?
Paulina: TR. This is Julie Williams, Eli’s grandmother. And this is Mayor Abraham Carver.
TR: The man Lani thought was her dad.
Abe: IS her dad.
TR: I appreciate you looking after my little girl. I don’t know how to thank you.
Abe: I don’t need your thanks. Being Lani’s father is the greatest gift to my life. Lani will always be my daughter and I will do my best to protect her. And to that end, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

Abe seems to be the only one who can see through TR’s concerned act. We need more of Lani’s adopted father vs. her evil bio-dad. James Reynolds and William Christian were fantastic in these scenes!

I’m not sure which is more disturbing, either: that Paulina is already falling back into TR’s trap or that he so quickly got Beth not to tell the truth.

Beth is a big disappointment. She’s got the key to solving Eli’s shooting and came to town ready to report everything TR did to her, only to do a 180 when TR offered her a movie part.

Her fear of him was understandable, and many abused women find it difficult to escape their abusers. But in this case, Beth was in the police station when TR called, and nothing stopped her from telling an officer that this guy was bothering her.

She didn’t need to see him in person. And since she was called back to the station, nothing stopped her from double-crossing him and telling Shawn the truth.

As for Paulina, she really should know better. Everyone forgiving her for her lies — including pretending Lani was Tammy’s daughter so that TR couldn’t get his hands on her — is not comparable to him beating her, breaking her jaw, and otherwise abusing her!

Everyone keeps trying to set her straight about that, but she’s not listening. Maybe a visit from Olivia is in order to talk some sense into her.

Finally, Maggie’s agreement to have Sarah committed was unsatisfying.

This COULD have been a decent story despite how silly the premise is. It must be painful for everyone who loves Sarah to be on the receiving end of “Renee’s” wrath, especially when they’ve waited so long for Sarah to come home.

But it’s stymied by the fact that the writers refuse to take mental illness seriously.

Even if this isn’t a genuine mental health issue — there’s no such thing as a drug that makes people think they’re someone they read about in a diary AND gain all their memories, after all — viewers could buy into it if it were treated like one.

Instead, non-psychiatrist Kayla is in charge of the case, and Tony has gone along with her ridiculous advice to indulge Sarah’s delusions to the point that he’s kicked Anna out of their bedroom and considered divorcing her!

And when Anna pointed out how wrong that was, Tony’s response was to blast her for her “lack of compassion” for poor, mentally ill Sarah.

The worst part about this is that it’s mocking mental illness and mental health treatment while making it sound like it’s doing the opposite. Yes, we should have compassion for people with mental health issues, but that doesn’t mean we should do whatever they want because they’re mentally ill!

Your turn, Days of Our Lives fanatics!

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Eager for more DAYS chat? Be sure to check back on Sunday for our latest Days of Our Lives Round Table discussion.

Days of Our Lives airs on NBC on weekday afternoons. Check your local listings for airtimes or watch on Peacock TV on weeknights after 8 PM EST / 5 PM PST.

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Jack Ori is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. His debut young adult novel, Reinventing Hannah, is available on Amazon. Follow him on Twitter.

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